Hounds and Colour in Surreal Cities by Lili Des Bellons

Hound-headed inhabitants can be found dotted around the electric hills and neon highways in the surreal cities that Lili Des Bellons creates.

She describes her work as universe-building, which can be seen in the futuristic and bizarre places she transports us to.

As well as the trippy colours and playful design, we like the way Lili uses pencil shading and blending in a way that gives her characters an almost luminescent quality at times.

Lili tells us about herself and talks us through the materials and techniques she uses, as well as where she would like to take her work and expand her colourful worlds.

I’m Lili des Bellons, a freelance illustrator and graphic designer for 5 years. I live in France, Auvergne (in the center).

I work mainly for agencies, magazines, publishers, etc… My works are often press illustrations, covers, graphic identity, or art books.

My techniques are varied. I work sometimes traditionally sometimes only digitally. The most important thing for me is to have fun in my work. For this, I like to try to develop different universes for each project (not to be bored and so work isn’t painful).

What may be the constant in my work is the choice of shapes and colors of my characters. I try to develop a unique and personal way to represent my vision (by experimenting). This results in sharp colors and shapes, sometimes aggressively so (and even sometimes creating graphic monstrosities—this is the game I like to play…).

My objective is to make a short personal film. A simple film that presents my vision, sometimes blurred, sometimes animal, sometimes distant…so I think why not develop my work in this area.